Bibcode
DOI
Bekki, Kenji; Beasley, Michael A.; Forbes, Duncan A.; Couch, Warrick J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 602, Issue 2, pp. 730-737.
Advertised on:
2
2004
Journal
Citations
45
Refereed citations
37
Description
We demonstrate that single and binary star clusters can be formed during
cloud-cloud collisions triggered by the tidal interaction between the
Large and Small Magellanic clouds. We run two different sets of
self-consistent numerical simulations that show that compact, bound star
clusters can be formed within the centers of two colliding clouds as a
result of strong gaseous shocks, compression, and dissipation, provided
that the clouds have moderately large relative velocities (10-60 km
s-1). The impact parameter determines whether the two
colliding clouds become a single or a binary cluster. The star formation
efficiency in the colliding clouds is dependent on the initial ratio of
the relative velocity of the clouds to the sound speed of the gas. Based
on these results, we discuss the observed larger fraction of binary
clusters, and star clusters with high ellipticity, in the Magellanic
clouds.